Disaster Alert Didn’t Work in Some Regions in Test, U.S. Says

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- A disaster-warning system that was
supposed to be carried on radio and television didn’t work in
some parts of the U.S. during its first national test, according
to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The audio and video alerts didn’t appear yesterday as
scheduled in parts of Oregon and New Mexico, said FEMA
Administrator Craig Fugate in an interview. In other places, the
audio alone didn’t work, he said. The agency is still compiling
results from the test.

The test was scheduled for 2 p.m. New York time yesterday
on broadcast and satellite television and radio and cable TV and
was similar to tests previously conducted locally.

For 50 years, the U.S. has had an alert system under
various names that has been used regionally to provide
information about severe weather and other emergencies. The
national test was designed to identify shortcomings.

The failures highlighted by the test “are unacceptable,”
said Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman,
a Connecticut independent, in a statement. “Government and
media carriers must work together to make sure the system does
what it is intended to do.”

A national alert could be used to warn of a nuclear attack
or other national disasters, said Rachel Racusen, a FEMA
spokeswoman.

The test served its purpose, Fugate said.

‘Not Happy’

“I’m not happy it doesn’t work 100 percent, but that’s
also why you test the system,” he said.

Although the alert was received by “media outlets in large
portions of the country,” some viewers and listeners ultimately
never got it, according to a joint statement from FEMA and the
Federal Communications Commission.

In preparing for the test, U.S. officials found the system
couldn’t run closed captioning for the hearing impaired,
translations and, in the case of some cable TV channels, visual
warnings to accompany the announcements, Fugate and FCC Chairman
Julius Genachowski wrote in a letter last week to governors and
private-sector groups.